Phillie's Trilogy by Doug DeVita

FULL LENGTH, 97 pages / For sample pages or information about licensing / purchase visit Next Stage Press: https://www.nextstagepress.com/phillies-trilogy/

WINNER: Fresh Fruit Award of Distinction, Outstanding Production
WINNER: Scrap Mettle Arts Emerging Playwrights Competition
FINALIST: Davenport Theatrical Reading Series
SEMI-FINALIST: Barrington Stage Company Burman New...
FULL LENGTH, 97 pages / For sample pages or information about licensing / purchase visit Next Stage Press: https://www.nextstagepress.com/phillies-trilogy/

WINNER: Fresh Fruit Award of Distinction, Outstanding Production
WINNER: Scrap Mettle Arts Emerging Playwrights Competition
FINALIST: Davenport Theatrical Reading Series
SEMI-FINALIST: Barrington Stage Company Burman New Play Award.
SEMI-FINALIST: Normal Avenue's New American Play Series
SEMI-FINALIST: Campfire Theatre Festival 2020

"In the canon of works that include The Boys in the Band, Torch Song Trilogy, and Falsettos, DeVita’s play Phillie's Trilogy will stand proud… and equal”
– Bob Green

Growing up in the “fabulous” 70s was no picnic for precocious budding writer Phillie McDougal. But despite the nuns, the priests, bullying classmates, and his parents, he lived to tell the tales, with results no one bargained for. Including him.

Developed at the Kennedy Center (with Jacqueline Goldfinger) and at ESPA/Primary Stages (with Rogelio Martinez.)
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Phillie's Trilogy

Recommended by

  • Craig Houk:
    17 Feb. 2024
    “ Exquisite. With Phillie McDougal, DeVita gifts the audience with one of the most uniquely layered queer & quirky characters ever devised. Unapologetic, defiant, vulnerable, volatile & antagonistic all rolled into one. And in fact, every single character in this play is captivating, the relationships between them genuinely complex and entwined. Phillie’s Trilogy is also cinematic in scope as DeVita nimbly moves backward and forward in time, expertly accentuating various tense moments with flashbacks & voiceovers. There’s plenty to ponder, but at the center of this play is an extraordinary love story between a gay man and his best girlfriend. ”
  • Philip Middleton Williams:
    26 Apr. 2022
    “ This is not deja-vu; I have recommended this play before in September 2019. But in this finely-tuned revision, Doug DeVita brings the scalpel and sharp focus on the characters to the point that it's a breathtaking trip through the past and present in the lives of these friends and family, lovers and rivals, bringing out the past joys and pain in exquisite and sometimes excruciating detail. The growth of the characters through the years and the regressions to past hurts makes it all the more compelling to watch and hold them to your heart. ”
  • Vince Gatton:
    25 Jan. 2022
    “ The entire enormous series of Phillie McDougal plays is an equally enormous joy, filled with a sprawling cast of messy, mouthy, finely-delineated and unforgettable characters. This particular time-jumping subset serves especially delicious focus on Phil/Phillie’s complicated relationship to his mother, the balls-out brilliantly…well…self-assured Veronica, and to his trusted bestie Barbie/Barbara. 1970s queer adolescence, grotesque behavior from priests and nuns, and contemporary middle-aged grief and loss come in for the kind of ruthless, funny, and moving examination that only the sharp mind of DeVita can deliver. ”
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Philip McDougal* A writer coping with loss; M, late 40s
Veronica McDougal* Philip's mother; a frustrated '70s housewife; F, early 50s
Barbara Quigley* Philip's childhood friend; coping with divorce; F, late 40s
Grace Bradley Barbara's mother; coping with memory loss; F, mid-70s
Phillie McDougal Philip as a child; precocious, mouthy, insecure; M, ages 5 to 30
Barbie Bradley Barbara as a child; smart, overweight; F, ages 5 to 25
Keith Quigley* Phillie and Barbie's friend; fatherless, troubled; ages 12 to 30
Jude Quigley* Barbara and Keith's son; angry, troubled; M, 14
Younger Grace* Veronica's best friend; a housewife; F, 39
Sheila Roth* Philip's no nonsense agent, a "broad;" F 60s

*Doubling:
Veronica/Sheila
Younger Grace/Barbara
Keith/Jude

Development History

  • Reading
    ,
    The Great Griffon "Seeking The Queer Voice" Reading Series
    ,
    2017
  • Reading
    ,
    The 9th Floor, New York, NY
    ,
    2016
  • Workshop
    ,
    Scrap Mettle Arts, New York, NY
    ,
    2016
  • Reading
    ,
    The 9th Floor, New York, NY
    ,
    2014
  • Reading
    ,
    Arouet, Seattle, Washington
    ,
    2010

Production History

  • Fringe
    ,
    Fresh Fruit Festival, New York
    ,
    2017

Awards

Semi-Finalist
,
Burman New Play Award
,
Barrington Stage Company
,
2019
Finalist
,
The Producer's Perspective PRO Inaugural Reading Series
,
Ken Davenport / Producer's Perspective PRO
,
2019
Semi-Finalist
,
Normal Avenue New American Play Series
,
Normal Avenue
,
2019
Winner
,
Outstanding Production
,
All Out Arts / The Fresh Fruit Festival
,
2018
Winner
,
Scrap Mettle Arts Emerging Playwrights Program
,
Scrap Mettle Arts
,
2016